ASTM Pool Alarm Specification Completed in Record Time to Advance
Safety

ASTM PS 128, Provisional Specification for Pool Alarms, presents safety and
performance requirements for increased reliability of these devices.
Alarms meeting the ASTM standard sound at poolside and in adjacent
buildings when a minimum weight of 18 lbs. hits the water. Acting
on their May 2000 report that 350 pool drownings occur each year
to children under five, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
requested that alarm manufacturers, testing, and safety specialists
in ASTM Subcommittee F15.49 on Pool Alarms for Swimming Pools,
Spas and Hot Tubs develop a safety specification.

They did, in record timeeight months and 19 days after their
first meeting, Sept. 11, 2000, PS 128 was approved May 31, 2001,
through voluntary consensus. Its expected publication date is
Aug.1. This was a group effort from a committee of very informed
members, said Merle I. Stoner, chairman of Subcommittee F15.49
and president of Poolguard/PBM Industries, Inc., North Vernon,
Ind., who has been producing pool alarms for 20 years.

The standard raises the safety requirements for pool alarms and
their manufacturing, he affirmed. A child drowning in a back
yard is a very serious problem. The only way to make pools safer
is to have products that meet safety standards such as ASTM, and
develop consumer awareness and confidence in these products.

Kathie Morgan, manager of Committee F15 on Consumer Products, congratulated the subcommittee for completing
the standard in less than a years time. The committee is striving
to accelerate the release of effective safety standards.

In their May 2000 report, the CPSC noted that pool alarms are
not substitutes for guarding children at poolside.